Alternative Shippuden
by Merovingian King
Summary: Begins at Shippuden with some major changes, and a rather different plot. Many characters are stronger, especially Tailed Beasts, and Naruto is much stronger but not god. I own nothing. Probably NarutoxHinata, SakuraxIno etc
1. Chapter 1

_Author's Note: Wrote this fanfic because I was very disappointed in the lack of progress after timeskip, both in Naruto and the other characters. I'll be using Japanese honorifics mainly as its fairly important in this story, but also because all attempts I've seen at translating honorifics have been disasters. I once saw someone use -baby as a English substitute for -chan, which didn't end very well. Much of this, especially later, is, as will be obvious, different from the actual story. For one, Sai isn't in it (pretty boring guy, yet another brainwashed evil assassin with little character, atleast at the current chapters), and most of the characters are far more powerful than before, especially "The Nine Genin", many from the Sand Village, most Kages, and some of the Akatsuki and especially most tailed beasts and their hosts._

_The term **Commoners** is used to refer to people neither ninja nor nobles, as it seems feudal lords and their kin have a lot to do with ninja, while there are also a lot of non ninja around, especially in lesser countries. I use **Demon Hosts**, or simply **Hosts** as a translation of "Jinchuuriki."_

_I sincerely hope that even in the real Naruto, commoners don't jump from the trees like ninja, or have weapons capable of cutting through actual metal (so any guy can't become like Rock Lee with enough training.) This story is to some extent inspired by the story "Chuunin Exam Day" by "Perfect Lionheart."_

_There might also be some irregularities. I havn't read the entire manga yet, so while I'll probably not include some stuff like Sora and pseudo-tailed hosts, there'll probably be some stuff that ain't a part of the manga due to my ignorance. Obviously this is, as you put it, OOC and AU. There'll probably be some light yuri too, although probably nothing too explicit._

_I don't know how much I will write or at what frequency, but it depends on feedback. If this is garbage (honestly, I can't imagine it to be much worse than the stories without capital letters at all, or some crappy plot about Gaara being in a mental facility) then I probably won't write much more, seeing as I hardly have time to make a very serious effort, but in the best case scenario I have quite a few more ideas. As you might have guessed, this is my first fanfic.  
_

It was a sunny day, hardly uncharacteristic for the Fire Country, when Izumo and Kotetsu, the Chuunin guarding a gate into Konoha, saw perhaps the most interesting thing they had seen in months. A man they instantly recognized as Jiraiya of the three legendary ninja, one of the greatest ninja ever to wear the Konoha headband, walked through the gate, a few steps behind a rather tall teenager.

What was however most eye-catching was the fact that the teenager was the spitting image of The Forth Hokage, perhaps the most recognized man ever to walk the streets of Konoha. As it was in the middle of the day, there were many people near the entrance, and Izumo saw that some of them again gave the entering pair stares of bewilderment and even shock. Although both Izumo and Kotetsu were little more than children at the time The Forth ruled Konoha, he was undoubtedly the person Izumo admired most, even after he was long gone. He saw at once that Kotetsu was eyeing the new comer with a similar expression, and asked "Who was that..?" earning him only a "uh..." for answer.

Naruto was seeing his beloved Konohagure again for the first time in years with very different eyes then before. He gave a slight sigh when he saw the confused faces of many villagers and the ninja guarding the gate whose names he had long forgotten. Jiraiya had predicted this. He had told Naruto of his true lineage, that his father was the legendary forth Hokage, despite thinking that Naruto would be angry for not knowing. To his surprise, Naruto had answered in an unusually serious tone; "Don't worry, Jiraiya-sensei, I'm glad. Despite my mistreatment from the villagers, I'd rather prove myself as Naruto Uzumaki rather than Naruto Namikaze. I would've probably been treated with more foolish reverence than Sasuke, and more like a fragile object than Konohamaru."

Bearing much resemblance to Minato's famed robe-like coat, Jiraiya had made Naruto one such similar piece of clothing, although orange in colour, adorned with black symbols, ranging from whirls and Konoha leaves to clouds split in two halves and a large nine tailed fox on the back, with its tails reaching upward, much like flames. Under the coat he was wearing a fairly simple pair of pants and a shirt, both seemingly in black silk. It was in great contrast to his previous jumpsuit. It was strange that very few in Konoha who did not know Minato in person knew that Naruto was his son. They bore much resemblance to each other, but it seemed like most people focused on his strange whisker-like markings and his jumpsuit more befitting a toddler, and could not even compare him to the popular genius of past.

"Its strange, now that I'm finally here again, I have no idea what to do... Where should we go first, Jiraiya-sensei?" Naruto asked his teacher, having mixed feelings of excitement and nostalgia while hardly wanting to rush around town looking for Sakura. "Don't get too excited right away. Before you can see your friends, we'll have to report to Tsunade." Jiraiya, looking like he'd lost ten years rather than less than three, was surprised at Naruto, indecisiveness and reluctance was uncommon for him, especially after their travels.

As they headed towards the Hokage building, they saw that the mountain above now had the head of Tsunade engraved. The toad sage let out a sight. "Tsunade sure looks as grim as the others, doesn't she?" But Naruto was deep in though, something that occurred with much greater frequency after a few months with Jiraiya, after some of his latent intelligence was awoken. This was the first time he had looked upon Minato's stern face and seen him as his father. Even before he became a ninja, The Fourth had always been his favourite Hokage and main inspiration, as The First and The Second were dead long before Naruto's time, and he had never seen The Third as much else than an old man. And now Tsunade, who he had often called baachan (AN: I feel grandma is insufficient here, as at least neechan can be used to refer to a woman not related to the user. I am under the impression that baachan could refer to a woman who is merely old.), had her face carved in solid stone, at least as authoritative as her legendary, male predecessors.

When he and Jiraiya entered Tsunade's office, Naruto saw a rather peculiar sight, not bothering to knock. Tsunade was sitting in her chair, with Shizune leaning over her shoulder at some documents, oddly intimately. When he thought back, he would often find them in similar positions, although this was the first time he had thought anything about it.

When they looked up in surprise, confusion and recognition, Naruto saw what one would think would be most eye-catching. Shizune, although she had not changed much besides wearing her hair longer and freely, now looked easily Tsunade's senior, and Tsunade looked like she had not yet seen twenty years. She looked slightly smaller mostly, a little less tall, her face more frail and youthful, although not more beautiful by many standards. Most notable, her immense breasts, which he had largely dismissed as a twelve year old, but which now caused him reactions not limited to blushing, were now notably smaller, although still easily amongst the largest Naruto had feasted his eyes upon.

When they noticed their guests, they were both quick to break into smiles, even the usually brisk Tsunade. "Finally back, eh?" was heard from Tsunade, as Shizune simultaneously exclaimed "Welcome back!" Gazing closer at Naruto's aesthetic changes, mainly the fact that he seemed almost twice as tall as the little squirt she remembered, and his new choice in clothing, resembling The Fourth more than ever, Tsunade asked "I hope you've made progress in other things than clothing and... I take it that cloak means that you have told Naruto of his descent?" "Indeed, I know of my parents, Minato and Kushina, and the cause for The Third's actions." Answered Naruto, with a tone and choice of words far different than the Naruto of past.

Tsunade felt a small pang of sorrow for this, although his change was for the best, perhaps even necessary with the Akatsuki ever plotting, she was going to miss the boy who resembled her dear deceased brother so much. One of the things she had most benefit from in Konoha was the opportunity to visit her brother and lover's graves every day, despite the sorrow it brought, and she now dealt with her sorrow in a way less limited to alcohol, which a doctor of another kind would surely deem more healthy.

Jiraiya, who seemingly had a change the opposite of Naruto's, barged in on the conversation with. "What you thought that anyone spending years under the legendary Jiraiya would end up anything less than the best!? Naruto has become adept in both wind and fire jutsu, and is quickly learning earth jutsu, and although I couldn't teach him much about wind jutsu, he is now able to make decent genjutsu better than most Chuunin though it is still one of his weak spots. He is however quickly becoming an expert at detecting and dispelling even advanced genjutsu. I have also taught him a much more sophisticated style of taijutsu, and his mastery of the Rasengan is much greater than before. He can now also summon greater toads with easy, although he can't summon Gamabunta without using the Nine Tails' chakra. But most importantly, he has much more control over the Nine Tails' chakra, and is able to do jutsu related to it almost like Gaara only to a much lesser degree."

"That's good, I look forward to you proving your words later. More importantly, did you encounter the Akatsuki while training?" Tsunade did for once not anger at Jiraiya's nonchalant tone, or the fact that Jiraiya was giving her younger-than-ever body indecent looks, while scribbling something down at a notepad. "Yes, we encountered a pair named Hidan and Kakuzu, two especially resilient ninja. We killed neither of them, but sustained no notable injury either. One of them, the one called Hidan, was seemingly immortal, surviving even the most powerful jutsu. In the end, we managed to split the pair up and bury Hidan in a cavern, but he is almost definitely okay now. We'll give you the full report later." Tsunade was quite impressed with Naruto already, the old him would probably just shout something about a incredible ninja.

"Also, if you don't mind me asking, what's with your body? I mean you seem only a few years older than me. It looks like more than a transformation jutsu" Tsunade was surprised at Naruto's question, she had assumed that Naruto knew from long ago, but she knew he was far from the brightest ninja, or rather, he wasn't three years ago. "I though you knew. Even before, I made my appearance far younger than my true age, and I alternate between different ages between less than twenty to well over forty. However you are right in assuming that it is not just any jutsu. One of my specialities as a medic ninja is modifying the body and little on my body is exactly as it was originally. For example, even without using any chakra or jutsu, I am far stronger than even unusually strong ninja with arms ten times the size of mine, despite never having exercised except fighting and training my students in almost fifteen years. In addition, before, when we met, the changes were merely a strong transformation jutsu, but now, this is how my body is. Even if I lose all my chakra and am near death, it will not disappear. This kind of thing is however very risky, which is why I waited until the last few years when I've had time to perfect it."

Naruto for once, seemed to be able to absorb everything. "Then Tsunade-ba... I guess it'll be weird to call you baachan anymore then..." An angry Tsunade interjected "It was weird before too!" Naruto gave her the first real smile of that day. "Okay, okay. But anyways, why didn't Orochimaru learn this if it could make him young again?" "For good or bad, it only improves you on the outside and your muscles and so forth, I know of no jutsu that can keep your organs from giving up eventually, although some ninja almost reach 200 years of ago provided they do not die in combat."

Their conversation, perhaps one of the few intellectual conversations Tsunade had ever had with Naruto, was interrupted by someone knocking at the door. In stepped a red-headed woman, which it took Naruto quite a few moments to recognize as Sakura. Her hair was now dark red rather than a light pink, and she seemed to have largely adopted her mistress of years' taste of clothes. She was wearing a red coat over a skin-tight top and pants in white.

Again, much like with Tsunade, the most prominent change was that of her bosom. A huge pair of breasts, while not as large as Tsunade's, had seemingly sprouted on her disproportional body. Perhaps due to the cruel tutelage of Tsunade, Sakura seemed as thin as Ino, despite her increase in height and size. It was in sharp contrast to her flat chested body before Naruto's journey, and looking closer, even her unusually large forehead seemed slightly smaller than before. Naruto suspected it might not be all nature's fault.

"Tsunade-sensei, here are the... Oh, sorry, I didn't know you had guests... I'll come back later." Sakura didn't wait long before talking as Naruto remembered well, and was about to turn around when she recognized Jiraiya. "Oh Jiraiya-sama!" She even ran towards him and hugged him, which, by Jiraiya's expression, evidenced that he too clearly had noticed Sakura's changes.

"Ah where is Naruto? Isn't he with you?" Sakura didn't fully have a good look at Naruto until now. After quite a few moments she seemed to recognize him, Naruto couldn't really blame her, he had taken some time recognizing her, and he had undoubtedly changed even more than she. "Ah Naruto! It's really you!" And with that she hugged him, which very much justified Jiraiya's reaction.

Although Naruto had really improved in dealing with people after his journey, especially women, hugging his childhood crush whom he didn't know how to handle, especially now as her considerable new breasts were pressing against him, made him feel awkward for the first time in a long time. For better or worse, he had at least lost his silly crush on her, but she had now easily developed into one of the most beautiful women Naruto had meet, despite him having a rather extensive experience with women, inevitably from travelling with Jiraiya for years, often stopping for weeks near mixed bath onsens, night clubs and taverns, spending the day training and the night watching Jiraiya chat up women, eventually joining him.

Somewhat awkwardly, he replied "Ah.. Hey Sakura, nice br.. I mean, how have you been?" Giving one of her great smiles, perhaps, in Naruto's opinion, her best feature, she answered rather rapidly"I've been great! But how about..." "Sakura-chan, stop your yammering!" She was interrupted by Tsunade. "Yes maam!" Sakura answered with surprising discipline. "Sakura here has been personally trained by me these last years, and has become quite formidable. To test you now, I want you two to fight later today."

Naruto was surprised. "I though you would have me fight Kakashi-sensei or another Jounin?" "Kakashi is not that great a foe as you make him up to be. While he is indeed a senior Jounin, he has an unusually small chakra, especially compared to you. Compared to his strong father, The White Fang of Konoha, he is actually quite the disappointment, despite being trained by The Forth. Before gaining the Sharingan and becoming the Copy Ninja, he wasn't even strong enough to become Jounin. In some regards, I have no doubts that Sakura has surpassed him already. Besides Sakura, unlike you, a Genin, is already a tokubetsu Jounin!"

Naruto was rendered speechless for a few moments, looking from an oddly smug Sakura to the grinning Hokage, finally making Naruto bite his tongue which was a common occurrence before his departure. Changing the subject, Naruto continued reporting. "A little more than a year ago, we also met Sasuke-kun and Orochimaru again and.." Here Jiraiya interrupted him and continued. "Orochimaru was still too weakened to fight me in a serious battle, so Naruto's match was interrupted when he ran away. Although Sasuke-kun seemed like he was used drugs or something similar, he and Naruto were fairly evenly matched. After a while however, he drew a strange sword, and with his speed and a long blade to keep Naruto at bay, Naruto could not touch him once. He also seemed able to stop Naruto from using the Nine Tails' chakra, probably with his Sharingan."

Naruto took the lead again. "He was very strong, perhaps making as much progress as I, and now there are but six months until Orochimaru will take his body, so we have to hurry." Jiraiya interjected once again, trying to console Naruto. "Although it is far fetched, it is not inconceivable that Sasuke-kun will be able to defeat Orochimaru, although only in his current weakened state."

Sakura had seemingly lost her good mood, looking down and spoke rather carefully. ".. Um, saving Sasuke-kun I mean, that may be pretty hard. Amongst a number of Konoha ninja who have fallen to Orochimaru and Sound ninja while you were gone, three have definitely been killed by Sasuke in person. Even if we manage to bring him back by force or persuasion unscathed, he will still face at the very least fifty years in prison, if not the village decides to kill him. Many look at him as almost as bad as Itachi and Orochimaru, the boy the village treated better than anyone have now killed his former comrades and joined perhaps the man most hated by Konoha."

Tsunade continued. "From an more objective perspective, it is also probably better to leave them alone and have them kill as many Akatsuki as possible. Even if we sent a force strong enough to defeat Orochimaru, Sasuke-kun and that bastard Kabuto, the losses to Konoha would be too great a price to pay. If they manage to hinder the Akatsuki, it also serves to benefit Suna, Konoha and the other villages hiding hosts , and very well the entire world."

Tsunade expected Naruto to throw a fit of rage or deny their words, but serving as further proof of his maturity, Naruto got even more solemn than before. "I see, I guess we can wait for an opportunity then. But I still plan on going to Suna and asking Gaara's sensei to teach me how to use a sword, so I can stand up to Sasuke."

"Then there is something more you should know. Almost everyone you know have improved considerably, not only Sakura. The entire team Gai have all become rookie Jounin at their young age, although they are a year older than you and Sakura. Hinata and Shikamaru have also become Jounin. Kankurou and Temari of Suna have long since become Jounin as you might expect, and high ranking ones at that. Finally, your fellow demon host, Gaara has become the Kazekage. This makes you one of the few Genin of your class. This generation is perhaps the best in over fifty years, and not only since training has become far more serious since Orochimaru's attack." Tsunade seemed very proud, and was rarely one to hide her emotions.

Naruto felt both pride and surprise, accompanied with some good-natured jealousy, although he was now far better to control himself than in the past. "I suppose its no wonder that Kankurou and Temari are Jounin, they were abnormal even as Genin, and Neji and Shikamaru are no surprise either. However, Gaara becoming a kage before me... I can't wait to meet him again."

Tsunade was confused. "I thought you had little eye for anyone in your class except Sasuke, much less the lazy Shikamaru?" "That was when I knew much less than now, and after all, Shikamaru is a genius, no?" Naruto seemed thoughtful.

"However how did Hinata improve so much? I know she got stronger but Jounin?" Sakura answered this one. "After you left Hinata got a lot stronger. She trained much, and even developed some of her own jutsu. After she proved herself, her father started giving her as much attention and encouragement as Neji and Hanabi, and now she has had her right to be the next clan leader restored. She's probably as strong as I am now at least, and even though Neji has also improved a lot, she'll probably surpass him soon. It seems, despite what people thought, she has more raw talent than even Neji, the "genius."

Naruto was very impressed. He had been under the impression that he would return impressing everyone in the village, and although so far he had, it seemed as though some had made perhaps as much progress as him. "I guess Tenten with her talent for weapons is obvious, but what about Lee? I thought you needed genjutsu and ninjutsu to be a Jounin?"

Tsunade was starting to get somewhat tired of answering all those questions, although Naruto was more than a noisy little brat now, but then again, she had some impressive things to say. Konoha had really flourished under her rule. "Firstly, Lee is again a tokubetsu Jounin rather than a usual Jounin, meaning that he has a specialisation, taijutsu in his case, rather than having talents in all directions, much like how Sakura is one with a medic ninja specialisation, and doesn't know how to use any other elements than water.

Secondly, I have performed one of my greatest medical miracles on Lee. After much preparing and research, I managed to heal Lee's chakra system a few weeks before he became Jounin, he had a birth defect, without any permanent damage! The fool still insists on using only taijutsu except in critical situations, but still, this will make me even more famous than I am." She was more smug than ever now.

Naruto had been surprised with all the changes, but he was now bordering on shock. And when he walked to the tower, everything had seemed so unchanged. Now he was looking forward to meeting his friends again, especially Gaara and his siblings, as Gaara had now obviously been accepted fully by his village, a dream he had not yet quite fulfilled. He would also show them that he had grown into a ninja they could depend on, rather than the squirt whom everyone ridiculed, even after he had gained friends.

Tsunade interrupted his train of thought. "Also, if you are truly going to learn to wield a sword, you should know that your mother was quite the famous swordswoman, and wielded the legendary _Hurricane_ of the former Whirlpool Country, a great sword of much value. Now that you know of your parents identity, you will inherit their considerable estate and belongings, including that sword."

Naruto had learned more of his clan in books while abroad. The Namikaze clan had always been rather small and secretive, and that said a lot when it came to ninja clans, and until Minato came along and became Hokage, they had seemingly not achieved much. However, after Minato, many had come to suspect that they may have hiding powerful secrets, and that a figure as public as Minato had been forbidden from using their hypothetical secret Bloodline Limit, despite becoming their clan leader early. They owned a small area in one of the more desolate areas of Konoha, although they were almost as rich as the more known Hyuuga, Uchiha and Senju clans. The entire clan, obviously except Naruto, had been destroyed in the Nine Tails' attack, including Kushina, who went to fight mere minutes after giving birth.

Suddenly Naruto realized that Sakura was standing in the room, not acting surprised by the talk of Naruto's ancestry. "I take it you know that I am The Forth's son then, Sakura?" Sakura acted almost apologetic. "Ah, yes, sorry... I was told a few months after you left, although I did not believe it at first. After all, the stupid, stubborn loser, the last in our academy class, couldn't be the son of perhaps the strongest Hokage, and his famous wife. But then I remembered your growth, and now you have seemingly somehow managed to actually get smarter, so I see it clearly now..."

"I hardly blame you, although I was very quick to believe it when I was told, heh." Naruto gave a slight smile. "Now now, I'll get Shizune to fetch those pesky documents and counter-seals to the Namikaze estate, and then we can take a break until the test later on."If Tsunade hadn't changed in the last years, which seemed unlikely, Naruto would bet much that she was using this opportunity to have herself some alcohol when Shizune's ever watchful eyes were elsewhere.

Twenty minutes later, Shizune and Naruto were approaching the Namikaze land. The relatively small area was covered with a two meter tall fence, with only two gates, one leading out into a part of the forest again owned by the Namikaze clan, and now Naruto alone, and one facing the village. There were only two notable buildings there, one a large mansion surpassed only by the Uchiha, Hyuga and Senji in Konoha, and the second smaller house, perhaps meant for a side branch of the family besides the clan head's family, although it was by most standards also a fine house, far superior in size and beauty to the average around even in a land as prosperous as the Land of Fire.

Thanking Shizune for her help, Naruto went around to look through the area. Both the insides of the buildings and the vegetation around was horrible, untended by humans for almost sixteen years. However Naruto knew that with a few hundred shadow clones, it would take mere hours to restore everything, although he would have to leave for Suna by the next morning.

He prepared himself a few necessary rooms in main house, and found where the sword was standing. The Sword was truly gigantic, perhaps even approaching the size of Zabuza's fabled sword. Despite being that large and broad, it was surprisingly thin. His mother being known for her strong wind ninjutsu, Naruto could presume from the form that it could be used to amplify wind jutsu perhaps by using it as a fan, much like how Temari used her great fan, or as he had learned, as a enhanced sword, after all many ninja used swords and other weapons in combination with elemental jutsu.

Despite being fairly thin compared to its size, it was obviously a very sturdy blade, easily capable of cutting through solid metal, unlike the weapons used by commoners. Even for Naruto, now an unusually tall ninja, it was very oversized. The handle was so large that even the largest of ninja must have plenty of room for their hands. When Naruto picked it up, it was surprisingly heavy, even for a ninja weapon and for being so thin. Had this been two years ago, he wouldn't have been able to carry it properly, much less use it in actual combat. The blade, which seemed to be made of a similar metal to Asuma's knives, had little decoration besides a whirlwind carved on the blade.

Meanwhile, in Tsunade's office, she and Jiraiya were now alone. "There is one more thing you should know about Naruto, Tsunade." Jiraiya finally seemed serious. "Undoubtedly the greatest change, as you may have noticed, is, for lack of better words, in his intelligence. One of the things that puzzled me most when I first met Naruto, I knew who he was from the moment he gave me his name, was how different he was when it came to his brains, or lack of them. The Namikaze clan, especially Minato, were pretty much all at genius level, many of them graduating quite early from the Academy and such, and his mother was no fool either. In the beginning of our journey, I found out what was wrong. It quickly became apparent that Naruto was practically illiterate in most fields, and that he lacked much of the most basic knowledge. Many years practically raising himself, and more discouragement and mistreatment than I have ever seen did not yield very good results. Before Iruka-kun started teaching him in his last year at the Academy, he had practically learned nothing from anyone else. I am shocked that Sarutobi did not take action, or dismissed Minato's wishes." Ninja orphans were very common. Maybe 25% of all ninja lost their parents at a young age, and very few ninja die of old age. However, few of them received as little love or care as Naruto.

Jiraiya was now quite engrossed in the conversation. "Of course, when I solved most of these problems, I quickly saw a great change in Naruto, although most of his principal ideas are still the same. I don't think Naruto can ever surpass Minato in terms of intellect however, as there is a second problem. As you know, the Tailed Beasts gain intelligence when they have a host, becoming more than mere beasts, but there is also a price for this to the host. You could say that the Nine Tails is using some of Naruto's brain capacity for itself."

Tsunade wasn't shocked, she knew there must have been side effects to such power, besides being ostracised by peers. "Then, is there any danger to Naruto?" She asked loudly in a worried tone. "There is no danger to his life now. And it even seems that the stupidity also increases his natural instincts. And I must say, compared to some of the other Tailed Beasts, the Nine Tails' price is not too great. The Shukaku for example, cause insomnia and madness to its host, although it seems it can come in a lesser extent, looking at the Kazekage. " Jiraiya had calmed down.

"Anyway, I think it will be good for Naruto to visit Suna now. Beyond seeing his friends, the Kazekage should hear our reports about the Akatsuki, who are plotting against him even now." "He can leave as early as next morning, provided he doesn't do too bad against my Sakura-chan." Tsunade slowly stood up from her chair and went to her large window overseeing Konoha. The meeting was finally finished.

As Naruto was making himself something edible in the now-clean and considerably large kitchen of the Namikaze mansion, he had in fact become quite the proficient cook, two and a half years travelling with a man who couldn't make toast had made it inevitable, he heard the before mentioned man walking through the mansion, finding the kitchen at once.

"Woah, been a long time since I've been here before. Naruto, you have no time for eating now, or Tsunade'll forbid you from travelling to Suna merely for being late." With that he dragged Naruto out with no warning, showing the he at the very least had not changed his attitude against his student.

The sun was already about to set as they were walking towards Training Ground Four, for their reunion with Tsunade, Shizune and Sakura had taken a good part of the day. Naruto remembered what he had seen at first. "Oy, Jiraiya, don't you think Tsunade and Shizune-neechan were acting kind of weird?" The old man looked surprised. "No, not more than usual, what are you talking about?" Naruto hesitated. "Well, at first, Shizune-neechan was leaning over Tsunade and one of her hands..." Jiraiya laughed hard, further confusing Naruto. "So, you really didn't know, did you?" "Know what?" Naruto was getting annoyed now, bringing their walk to a halt.

"I know you were stupid but really, you didn't know that Tsunade and Shizune had _that kind of relationship_?" Jiraiya seemed most amused. Naruto answered him. "Now that I think back, they were sometimes acting strange, but I didn't really think about it back then." "The only reason Tsunade isn't buried in ten meters of ninja steel under the Konoha Mental Facility is because of Shizune. They both lost their entire clans in the last great war, and although I doubt Shizune can ever completely fill the hole Dan's death left, they both need each other." Jiraiya's more serious tone spoke of his respect for Shizune, and he rarely showed any of the sort.

Fighting a very different Sakura and seeing what else had changed in Konoha awaited.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter II**

AN: _Sorry for the long wait, not planned. The realisation that amongst the extreme amount of Naruto Fanfiction, I am lucky if my story gets read and much less reviewed, and the fact that work has been hell, I've had to prioritice sleep, hasn't exactly been motivating. Sorry for the short chapters, seems alot more when writing. I'll try to write more next time._

Long before Naruto could have processed all the new information he had gained in such short time, even with him being a whole lot brighter than before, they approached the training grounds. Sakura was sitting on the branch of a tree, mere meters from where Team 7 had once failed to take the bells from Kakashi. Now, unlike when he first trained here, Naruto noted that since the area contained trees, a river, a small rocky hill and plenty of sand and dirt, and that it allowed for using most elemental jutsu without having to waste much chakra. When they had all gone into position, Sakura and Naruto facing each other, standing roughly fifteen meters apart, with Jiraiya, Shizune and Tsunade at the sidelines, Tsunade started announcing. "Naruto, Sakura, the test to see what progress you two have made begins now. Don't be afraid to go all out, unless you deal a killing blow or go completely berserk we should be able to patch you up again. Good luck to both of you."

Sakura, now looking far more impressive in most regards, smiled rather confidently. As soon as Tsunade gave the sign to start, she rushed at a great speed towards Naruto. Naruto, wanting to first test Sakura and get an idea what to expect, decided to face her head on, only going into a defensive stance, his legs far apart. When Sakura hit him, with her left hand nonetheless (she was right handed), he could feel his ribs cracking and he spat his own blood up. Underestimating her proved a great mistake, thought Naruto as he lay in pain, now blown several meters away from her merely from her blow. "That's not very impressive, Jiraiya. Sakura is even going very easy on him." He could hear the disappointed Tsunade's comment as he got back on his feet.

He decided to try to make the fight ranged, after all he could use more elements than Sakura despite both of them seemingly being close-range specialists. Performing a hand sign, he yelled "Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!" which summoned forth a great ball of fire, significantly larger than the ones Sasuke had used, at least three years ago. This was a jutsu he truly had mastered, having a fireball of size greater than most, and more importantly, managing to summon it with only one handsign. He had long since learnt from harsh experience that yelling out a jutsu's name in battle was foolish, but some saw it as courteous to do it during training or friendly sparring.

Sakura however also seemed to have minded her surroundings. Performing a many hand signs of her own, perhaps hinting that it was a water jutsu, and yelling something made indistinguishable by the sounds of the fireball, many thin rays of water from the river spun around each other and made the fireball disappear in a cloud of damp long before Sakura was in danger. Judging by her unchanged features, it seemed he could not exhaust her relatively small chakra pool since she used the nature around her rather than summoning actual water.

However Naruto had not even scratched at the surface of his new talents. He had learned a powerful wind jutsu, through manuals and own experimentation rather than a teacher, the very one he remembered Orochimaru had once used to split Team 7 up in The Forest of Death, while abroad. Facing Sakura and performing numerous hand seals very rapidly, he yelled "Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!" and watched the power of his jutsu. Sakura did not have time to react properly as the wind took her from the ground and sent her spinning into the forest behind her. She would however show Naruto how strong she had become.

The wind, filled with his chakra, told Naruto that Sakura had gotten out of it, as he expected. He considered burning down the entire forest, but Sakura was not of the sneaky type, so he should have fair warning before she could hit him again. What came out of the forest however, was far from the Sakura he knew. Around ten giant Sakuras, all of them matching the height of the Hokage tower, emerged from the forest, becoming larger than the trees, while spitting forth lightning and fire. Naruto of course realized instantly that this was a genjutsu. Although Sakura had a small knack for genjutsu, it seemed she was far from subtle in most contexts.

Naruto managed the dispel the illusion with little effort. As he had expected, Sakura merely ran towards him, preparing to hit him. But Naruto knew exactly what to do. He let his chakra into the air, and made the wind carry him from the ground, giving him the ability of actual flight, if a somewhat clumsy one. Sakura smiled at this, and yelled up to him. "Hey Naruto, that kind of thing won't work on me!" With those words she bent her legs and amazingly managed to jump upwards, approaching him at a heigh of over twenty meters rapidly. By the shattered earth beneath her, Naruto managed to deduce that she must have had released chakra from her feet to greatly increase the power of her jump, similar to how she could punch with inhuman strength.

In the air, Naruto had much less manoeuvrability than at the ground, and was very nearly hit by Sakura's punch before managing to avoid her and land again. He ran towards Sakura, making a Rasengan with one hand, who had now long landed and was running towards him too. "Hah, you lose!" She yelled managing to quickly take his Rasengan hand by the wrist while simultaneously preparing to give him the finishing blow with her other free hand. Just as Naruto had predicted. Before she could knock him out, Naruto formed a Rasengan in his other hand, while maintaining his first one nonetheless, and pushed it towards Sakura's incoming punch. As that letting go of Naruto's hand would mean letting him hit her with two Rasengans, she had to let her hand hit the Rasengan.

The result was that both flew quite a distance away, although Naruto fell further. One of Sakura's hands was by now however damaged to the point of needing express healing, or being completely rendered useless forever. Using a healing jutsu, she took her healthy hand over her hurt arm and let a very visible, greenish chakra out over it. Naruto had seen this kind of healing jutsu before, and knew it would make her open to attacks.

Sakura was barely biting her teeth together in pain, it would seem she was very far from unaccustomed to pain. Thinking that it would probably end the match, Naruto ran towards Sakura at a very high speed. She would probably not be able to do much damage with a hurt hand, and Naruto had learnt many kinds of advanced taijutsu from Jiraiya. Before he could even reach Sakura however, she disappeared underground, presumably by using a earth jutsu. _Damn that Tsunade. She said Sakura only knew water jutsu... Then again, it is a very basic jutsu, not really something one needs a mastery of earth release to perform..._

She surfaced moments later, closer to the woods. As further testament to her progress, she managed to run at an amazing speed, probably due to letting chakra out of her feet, even while performing a healing jutsu that required quite some focus. _Damn, she's good! _Naruto's thoughts were in turmoil as he thought of what to do next. The forest gave her enough cover to hide in, and to level the entire thing he would have to use jutsu that would drain a lot of chakra, even for a host like him.

He decided that sending a small number of clones, twenty would suffice, into the woods would be most efficient. Although Sakura should be able to destroy the clones effortlessly, their memory of her location would imprint on him. Before his clones could even reach the trees, Naruto was impressed to see that Sakura had seemingly completely healed her arm in less than a minute, and he was scared to see that she seemed very agitated, and more importantly, that she was carrying a huge god-damn _tree_ as a club, while running towards him. The proverb "Oni with a club" seemed appropriate here. The clones stood no chance against her, all seemingly disappearing into a large clouds of white smoke as she spun her tree around. Naruto could see that she was actually grinning.

Standing half the ground away from her, Sakura saw a version of Naruto in safe distance of her club. She considered the possibility that it could be a clone, but from Naruto having his clones recklessly charge her, she could deduce that his skills in this area hadn't evolved much. She took forth three kunai from her jacket and threw them against Naruto, who seemingly was exhausted, no doubt from his flamboyant use of jutsu, but that was just the start of her plan. When the kunai was nearing him, she made a couple of handsigns similar to those used for a clone technique, which caused the three kunai to multiply into well a hundred, making it practically impossible to dodge at that range.

The kunai did indeed hit their target, Sakura had by now enough skill to hit no vital parts so she was not worried, but after a few seconds the Naruto exploded in a cloud of white smoke. She heard movement behind her and saw that, now that the smoke had cleared, a Naruto, one she had previously smacked with the tree, had jumped to her. Before she could punch him, he had taken hold of both her wrists, making her unable to hit him. Even in her hopefully, for Naruto, worn state, she was now far to strong for Naruto to handle. He took a small risk and summoned some of the Nine Tails' chakra, merely enough to change his eyes into those of a malevolent predator, but even so, she would be impossible to suppress for long. Before Sakura had time to use her knee, which, had it hit its target, would have put Naruto and a medic ninja, probably Tsunade, in an awkward situation, Naruto smashed his own forehead onto her (still slightly larger than average) forehead, knocking her out, atleast temporarily.

Naruto heard some applause and Jiraiya's childish cheering as the watching trio approached them. "That was a good fight Naruto, seems you really have improved a lot. Too bad neither of you showed you true powers though." Tsunade seemed impressed. "What do you mean, Tsunade?" Naruto, while not having even used one fifth of his chakra, was quite tired. "Well for one, you barely even used the Nine Tails' chakra, and Sakura has quite a few more tricks up her sleeve. Shizune here have taught her more than a little about poisons, and had she for example hidden a poisoned needle in her fist when you took her first blow, you'd be half dead now." Naruto saw the truth Tsunade's words, but he never made the same mistake twice, not now anyhow. "I must say, judging by your performance against Kabuto that time, Sakura must've surpassed you by now." Naruto said, trying to get back at Tsunade for belittling their battle. "Don't get cocky, you're still a brat in my eyes. Back then, I had let my body and mind decay for decades. Now I could easily level half the village in five moves without even using an earth jutsu." Tsunade was using a lower, more threatening tone now, betraying that she was more than just annoyed.

"By the way, the next Chuunin exams are in just over a week, and you have to finish them as soon as possible. I'll have you compete together with a set of far younger Genin without a good enough team themselves. You're in luck, the Chuunin exams will be held in Konoha this time around, and you'll even have some of the same proctors as before, due too a shortage of experienced Jounin at the moment. Don't spoil anything for the other Genins!" Naruto felt somewhat undignified being put together with the kids who had only been Genin for a few months. Tsunade however seemed even more exhausted than he was, despite having calmed down by now, as though she was the one who had fought a battle. Perhaps this showed that age did have an effect on her, despite her appearance being more youthful than ever. Then again, her having a legit chance to have some sake seemed more likely. "Now get some rest, you'll need it if you're going to Suna early tomorrow morning." His quick regeneration now made Naruto only look a little dirty and bloodied, so it was apparent that it was with her self in mind Tsunade had concluded the evening.

The manner in which Tsunade walked from him, very much the very opposite of a tired ambulation, confirmed Naruto's earlier suspicions. As Jiraiya and Shizune followed suit, the former's gait not very different than Tsunade's, Sakura awoke, a little disoriented. The Hokage and her followers left them behind as Naruto waited for Sakura. Perhaps this would give him a chance to catch up a little, before he once again left. "You okay?" Naruto asked Sakura, although he had no real concern, as he had seen a far more feeble Sakura take far worse on missions before. "I guess I didn't impress you enough back there after all?" In response, Naruto pulled his hands up in surrender and smiled."

"If you have a little time now there is something I'd like to tell you, before you leave." Sakura sounded strange, almost hesitant. Looking at her beautiful face, Naruto surmised that a few years ago, the prospect of having an evening walk with Sakura would knock him out from euphoria. "Sure, it's not that late, and I'd be sad to leave again without learning more about how Konoha's been." Sakura took a deep breath. "Well, its a long story, but you'll get the short version. I guess I should start with... Well, you know how both Ino and I have become medic ninja and study under Tsunade?...

Only a few months after you left, I lost my crush on Sasuke-kun. Now that I think back, I realise I was a childish brat back then, especially to you, I apologize." Naruto gave her a wide smile, on of the few he had given with actual warmth that day. He appreciated her apology, and in fact, he himself had felt some slight anger at Sakura for her actions, also months after he left Konoha, after his quick maturing and after he had lost his crush on Sakura. He had not been much more than a brat himself back then, while he understood and helped people with more serious issues like Gaara or to a lesser extent Sasuke, he had not been nice with those with lesser issues; he had not known Shikamaru well at all, and he had been rather insensitive about Chouji, and worst of all, he had completely misunderstood Hinata. "You're very forgiven. We were all pretty bad back then.

Well continuing... Ino and I spent much time together and progressed with great speed together with Tsunade. We both now have long started with elemental jutsu, and we're both far better medic ninja than most, although we still lack in experience. Ino is not yet a Jounin, she's going to wait longer, but she's better than most Chuunin our age, except for the far older ones who don't become Jounin to have less responsibilities. We've both become decent in genjutsu, although Ino's better than me, and we've both learned Tsunade-sama's taijutsu, although Ino prefers long range combat and I'm much better at that field.

However, what I truly want to tell you about is something of another nature. As mentioned Ino and I spent a lot of time together. And I truly mean A LOT of time, as in a considerable time of my waking hours for the last years. We trained and still train for many hours under Tsunade, often pitted against each other or competing, especially in the beginning, and we've spent many a night falling asleep together in a library while studying. We are also part of Tsunade's personal team, usually made out of Ino, Shizune and I, although Ino and I have recently gotten some solo missions, Tsunade can almost never leave the village. Usually we act as ambassadors for Tsunade rather than Konoha, but we also have regular missions. Bar Tsunade sending us, the legendary ninja's students, to for example heal a daimyo's son as a favour, we have had well two year's worth of missions together, some of them as dangerous as the ones you, I and Sasuke did as Team 7."

Somehow, Sakura's weight on her time with Ino was somewhat strange. Oddly, it made Naruto remember a girl a few years older than him that he had the pleasure of travelling with for a few weeks when he was travelling with Jiraiya. She was the daughter of a nobleman or some rich merchant, Naruto could not remember which one, and had left her home after refusing an arranged marriage and denying her father. What made him remember her however, was because she, with a fervour rivalling Jiraiya's, had chased women, and, when they were passing through a village and stopping for a night, had bedded some village girl pretty much every night. Perhaps it was the revelation about Tsunade and Shizune, Naruto reckoned, as surely someone who was as obsessed with Sasuke as Sakura couldn't possibly be a lesbian.

"Anyway, to get to the point, Ino and I had our friendship restored, nay, our friendship became far greater after some months." Sakura continued, her voice now slower. "Our relationship progressed to one of a romantic and.. sexual nature. I don't think that I was always a lesbian, but after all that time and things I shared with Ino, I suppose I changed. Ino and I are.. together now. So there you have it. That's what I wanted to say before you left, since it is by far the most important that has happened to be, and in case you still had that crush on me."

Since his training with Jiraiya, Naruto usually had something smart to say for most situations, unlike before his departure, but this day it seemed was an exception. Naruto was very surprised, if not negatively, but he knew not whether he should congratulate her or what. Deciding that standing there in shock, bringing their walk to a halt, couldn't be better than some little thought of comment, he replied. "Eh, uh... Well, congratulations! Seems you've taken after Tsunade in more than dressing, huh?"

These thoughts lead him back to an very unusual episode he had in a town he and Jiraiya had visited. After becoming fairly drunk at a tavern, a girl had convinced him to spend the night with her in his sexy jutsu form, a female transformation jutsu that was very natural for him for some reason. Though the memories were rather blurry, he had remembered it as a very good (if strange time.) Had he fewer inhibitions, he would've done it again for sure.

After seemingly trying to decipher his feelings by staring curiously in his face, Sakura gave him a wide smile. In that regard their roles seemed to have changed, before, Sakura would rarely grant him anything else than a scowl, now she smiled frequently while he had a far more serious visage. "Thank you, it means a lot for me that you accept it. This means you're 'over' me?" Naruto gave her a nod, not wanting to tell Sakura of how his initial resentment of her had made him susceptible to Jiraiya's corrupted ways.

Sakura continued. "It is actually kind of because Tsunade that I felt like telling you this as soon as possible. I don't mean that Tsunade is the cause of my, or Ino's for that reason,.. change, beyond forcing us together for so long. But Tsunade and Shizune can't go public with their relationship, the village fully expects Tsunade to continue to Senju clan despite her age, though they've given her some slack due to the effect Dan's death had on her. Female ninja in general aren't as common as male even in this day, just look at the opinions of say Shikamaru, and many clans don't even bother teaching their daughters in many cases. Though we now have our first female Hokage, one of the first female Kages anywhere in fact, some more militant factions here in Konoha still believe that women are only for making more ninja, and not worthy.

As you can imagine, lesbians are even less accepted and uncommon. Tsunade's been thinking of some way to incorporate Shizune's, and therefore also Dan's clan's, DNA into her, but with little success. Unless she succeeds soon, she'll probably be forced to marry some up-and-coming ninja, since her clan is very valuable to Konoha." Sakura seemed more serious now, and spoke far quicker than before, no trace of the hesitant tone left. Suddenly they had come to a point with one road leading into the town, where Sakura lived, and one further to the outskirts, where Naruto now owned a considerable estate. "Ah, seems we split here. I guess we'll speak more when you return. Sorry for taking so much time." "Ah no problem at all, it was good to catch up a little. I'll see you in a few days, farewell." Naruto gave the beautiful ninja another glance, and turned, leaving for his new mansion. From behind him, he heard Sakura shouting after him. "Good bye and good luck Naruto!" Turning his head, he saw Sakura still standing there, staring at him as he left.

_His _mansion seemed even more majestic in the shadows. Naruto's thoughts were sombre as he knew, should he get to Suna, get some training done, and then get back before the Chuunin Exams, he would have no time to see his old friends, Hinata, Shino, Kiba, Ino, Chouji and Shikamaru. Even Konohamaru, who would now be a lot older. Although he had known from before that he would have to leave for Suna rather early after his return, it was somewhat frustrating that he would have to leave again _this_ soon, even without meeting most. Seeing Iruka, and even visiting the ramen stand was very tempting, although Jiraiya had forbidden him from eating ramen most of the trip and had managed to remove his addiction, especially after he awoke his latent intellect. This was partly why he had had such a big growth spurt.

It was funny, he had spent more time travelling with Jiraiya than he had with Team 7, or even had an actual friendship with most of the Rookie Nine. But still, he wanted to see Gaara even more, he had now become Kage long before him, and even after their match after the Chuunin Exams and Gaara's repenting, he had spent unfortunate little time with him, and it couldn't be helped, seeing as he needed that training. Despite predicting a long night due to his eventful day, Naruto fell asleep almost instantly, no doubt because of the comforts of the Namikaze's luxurious beds, despite him choosing one of the guest rooms.

Naruto was awoken quite early, together with the sun, by the sounds of many birds chirping. Unlike his apartment in the middle of Konoha, the Namikaze mansion was at the far outskirts near a forest, although birds did not entirely shy from the bustling streets. Estimating the time to be a little more than six in the morning, Naruto gathered his rather few belongings and went on his merry way.

On his way through Konoha, passing the largest streets, now almost devoid of life, Naruto realized that this was probably one of the few times he had seen Konoha in this state. Before his training with Jiraiya, Naruto was an abnormally heavy sleeper and even on his journey, being exhausted after a day of training and then spending half the night watching over Jiraiya drinking himself into a stupor, Naruto often joining him, he had rarely been awake before 10 a.m. He passed a blond kunoichi in a black robe on his way out,some black object on her back, taking things a bit more slowly than Naruto, as the Chuunin guards were sleeping before one of the Konoha gates. Naruto had passed through a few other ninja villages during his journey, and their defence would shame Konoha's, he remembered having to reluctantly hide his headband to even get it. He vowed that when he became Hokage, he would seriously tighten things.

After walking for a few minutes, the blond kunoichi still in sight behind him, Naruto decided to use his wind jutsu to fly for a bit. He was still quite clumsy at this particular part of his array of wind jutsu, and doing it for long would exhaust even his chakra supply. He surmised he would waste much chakra, but he should be fine by the time he reached Suna, though this would definitely not increase his overall speed. He formed the necessary handseals and muttered in his mind. "Wind Release: Hatchling Hawk Flight Jutsu."

After a only a few moments of shaky flight, he sensed someone approaching him from behind. It was the kunoichi clad in black, seemingly using the black object, now revealed to be a giant fan, to fly, in a far more refined and elegant manner than Naruto.

After she easily caught up to him, she called out to him. "Greetings shinobi. That's quite a jutsu you're using there. May I ask whether its a textbook one or something you've come up with yourself?" "Ah yes, its merely something I pulled together, not very effective at this level I'm afraid.. Ah, Temari-san, was it?"

The woman was more in focus now and, with that odd blond hair, a Sunagakure headband and her wind jutsu, Naruto recognized her as Temari, the allegedly now-Jounin sister of Gaara, the one who had defeated Tenten without breaking a sweat in the Chuunin Exams so long ago. She too seemed to have become quite the beauty. Perhaps it was because she was a ninja. With the many jutsu related to aesthetics, and the fact that ninja unlike many commoners had a rather modern hygiene, many female ninja were uncommonly beautiful.

Temari seemed surprised at his answer. "Ah, you know me? Sorry, I'm afraid I don't recognize you..." The kunoichi, who usually seemed fairly polite, was somewhat flustered. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, the one from the Chuunin Exams? I fought Gaara afterwards, remember?" "Naruto? Ah that jumpsuit idio.. Ah hehe, I see you've changed, Naruto-san.. You headed to the Land of Wind?"

Temari seemed eager to change the subject. Naruto made an awkward smile. He knew people hardly thought much of him before, not entirely without incentive, but as she knew he had defeated Gaara at one of his worst moments, he'd think she had some respect for him. It seemed flesh mattered more than deeds. "Yes indeed, I am headed to Suna, to meet your sensei in fact. Baki-san, was his name, no?"Temari seemed puzzled, and blushed as she saw that she and Naruto were staring at each other. The snotty brat she remembered sure had become handsome. As she narrowly managed to avoid crashing into a tree by the roadside, she positively flushed, a different reaction than she got before, which was more related to indignation.

"Baki-san? I haven't been trained by him in years. Ah now I recall. You've been gone with that legendary ninja of Konoha for the last years. Still I can't imagine what you want with Baki-san though. He is one tough teacher." Temari started getting a little worried about him, by now Konoha probably knew that it was Baki in person who killed that Konoha proctor, and despite their alliance being stronger than ever before, they could demand some kind of compensation for their loss. She had fiercely disagreed with Baki's ideals, or the way they all had neglected Gaara, but it was her duty as an ambassador between Konoha and Suna to resolve situations like this.

"Ah, its because of this." Naruto gestured towards a large black bag, seeming to contain something larger and wider than even Temari's fan, nestled on Naruto's back, along with a large backpack in traditional ninja camouflage colours. "Its a sword, and since Konoha has no sword masters at the moment, besides some very busy, and very private ANBU members, I thought I'd try in your village. By the way, what were you doing in Konoha?" Temari almost sighed in relief, although she knew Baki would fight teeth and claw before teaching anyone from somewhere else than Suna. "I've gained the honour of being the ambassador between Konoha and Suna, and so I'm travelling between the villages a lot now with the Chuunin Exams on the horizon."

Naruto and Temari managed to keep their conversation, about everything from his partaking in the upcoming exams to the opposition Gaara, a demon host, faced in Suna, even after becoming the Kazekage. Only stopping to eat at a small tea house, Temari had also given him a few tips about his wind jutsu that Jiraiya had not known of.

Soon they had entered the vast desert that was the Land of Wind and then, with Temari's considerable experience in the desert, Sunagakure awaited. Unlike most lesser deserts, the Land of Wind was fairly cold in comparison, despite being a sand desert, and so having a quick sleep during the night and resuming their journey in the morning would be no issue. The country was blessed with rather cold winds large parts on the year, even when the frequent sand storms made travel well-nigh impossible.

A few hours before noon, Temari and Naruto approached the immense ravine that was Suna. Naruto had read during his travels that the area was once a giant oasis, and that behind the great sand banks, also containing metal-rich mountains, the source of most of the village's economy, with only one long, narrow entrance, lay a valley which had once been the bottom of the oasis, and that the water had been pushed up into a great dam on the other side of the village.

Despite the fact the Naruto could only see less than thirty Suna ANBU surrounding the entrance, he could tell that this meant that it was heavily protected, by Suna standards. The quality over quantity policy that the village (had) enforced, climaxing in the sealing of the Shukaku in Gaara, evidently still had a large effect on the village. When a few of the guards recognized Temari, they eagerly let her pass, without even questioning Naruto's presence. Suna's ninja were generally stronger than all other villages, but they probably had far less than any other too. Comparing them to the sleepy Chuunin guarding one of the Konoha gates, seemingly incapable of making a genjutsu strong enough to fool the average genin, Naruto felt his regard for Konoha sink a little, despite its fruitful new generation. One of the Suna ANBU, one with a fanciful bird mask, disappeared in a flash of sand, the kind of Body Flicker jutsu used by the sand ninja.

After a strangely long walk through the narrow, dim passage between the sand banks/mountainsides, small sand corns forming small dust clouds at the edges, Temari and Naruto saw the first buildings of Suna. The village was home to many large tower-like buildings in the valley, with small tents and market stalls under in their shadow. The streets were quite busy, despite it still being hours until noon."Now, now.. I guess we'll first go visit Gaara.. I mean Kazekage-sama, and then arrange for you to meet Baki. He should be free at this time. I also have some things to report, you know, a Kazekage is now going to Konoha for the first time in years soon, the real Kazekage anyway, in the final Chuunin Exams."

Temari was staring slightly incredulously at Naruto, despite his leap in intelligence and change of demeanour, evidenced strongly from their many hours together, she'd expect more of a reaction, preferably one of awe, as by most standards, Sunagakure was a work of art. With great stone towers, made yellowish by sand, placed together in a intelligent design, Sunagakure far surpassed Konohagakure, which was a bunch of buildings in large part placed together randomly inside a large, circled wall.

But the Konoha ninja merely kept up his half-smile, making him look somewhat like Gaara after his ascension to Kage rank. But Temari had never seen her brother as remarkably handsome, despite what the average youngster in Suna thought of their Kazekage. She presumed that being one of the youngest Kages in history, if not the very youngest had part of in it. She remembered that Naruto, when he instilled mostly disgust in her rather than attraction, had always yelled on about how he would become Hokage, despite being fairly weak most of the time back then. Ironic that Gaara had beat him to the chase.

As they walked through the streets, the crowd before them split upon, giving space to a trio walking towards them. One of them was a Suna ANBU member, indistinguishable from the ones they had seen at the entrance, another was a older man wearing garbed in a long brown robe, with a strange white cowl covering much of his face. Naruto had seen a similar mask in a book he had read during his travels, and recognized it as the ones used by Suna council members. The third, walking first and with a smile on his face, was Kankurou, the brother of Temari and Gaara, wearing his strange costume. He was far more recognizable than his sister, towering over the crowds.

Naruto noticed that while he had wore a large cumbersome puppet covered in bandages on his back before, it was now replaced by five large ninja scrolls. "Yo, Temari-nee, you're back early." The puppeteer almost yelled as he rushed towards Temari giving her a hug. The Kankurou Naruto remembered from the Chuunin Exams did not refer to his sister _as his sister_, in fact Naruto had not even realized their relation before long after their first meeting. He had not seemed as the kind of person likely to give anyone at all any physical contact, much less a hug. This was a positive change he guessed.

"And who is this most unfashionable of Konoha ninja you're with? I thought green spandex was the shit around those parts?" The smiling ninja pulled Naruto from his thoughts with his crass questions. At his side, Temari looked torn between embarrassment over her brothers rude guise in the presence of a councilman and an esteemed guest, and an urge to blow her brother through half the village. Harsh words from a man wearing a costume with make-up and cat ears without any incentive from his profession.

"Ah, I guess you don't remember me either. I'm Naruto Uzumaki, the guy in a jumpsuit from the Chuunin Exams?" Kankurou took a step towards him and stared at him rudely for a moment. It was apparent that he did not value courtesy as much as his sister. His eyes narrowed and then opened wide in remembrance. "You're that brat!Ah I see now, you resemble him. I guess getting a away from Konoha was a good idea looking at your wardrobe." It would seem that Kankurou, unlike his sister, remembered quickly that Naruto had been on a journey. Words concerning ninja of Sannin calibre spread like wildfire in the ninja world. It would seem even the more hardened ninja of Suna were impressed by his manner of dressing, seeing as most ninja merely wore some clothes fit for camouflage, some bandages and a generic ninja vest.

"You sure are one to speak, I meet a puppeteer in my travels, and he did not feel compelled to wear cat ears." Naruto was careful in putting a humorous tone over his words, insulting his hosts would not be promising for his training, never mind their own tongue. Although Kankorou faked anger, Naruto could see that he had broken the ice. He was almost shaking in excitement at the prospect of meeting Gaara again and learning to wield a sword, at least the very basics, and noted that should he continue this, he would soon again devolve into his past self.


	3. Chapter 3

_AN: Please note that this chapter features, much like earlier, many time discrepancies, and some changes. According to a wiki, the mother of Gaara is also the mother of Kankurou and Temari. I, however, did not know of the Sand Siblings relation before pretty late, that one slipped me. The fact that Gaara's mother cursed the entire village, thereby also her earlier born children, Temari and her brother, always seemed strange to me. I was/am hoping that it will turn out that things that her brother said was false, and that his assassination attempt was somehow not a true expression of his feelings/the truth (perhaps due to him being somehow controlled by the Kazekage), however this seems rather impossible now. Actually, looking at some other Japanese anime/"art", this seems quite common, for example the sister of Tanimoto in HSD Kenichi's words before her death. Anyhow things will be different here._

_Partly because I have lost much interest and partly because I am rather busy these days, updates will be rather scarce from now on, even more than before. Though this chapter is very late too._

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, and make no money et cetera (do I have to put this up for every chapter?)

The Kage's quarters in Sunagakure were very impressive, especially when compared to the ones used by the Hokage in Konoha. While the Hokage Tower was fairly impressive, the office Tsunade used was fairly ramshackle and simple, if originally pretty decent. The one used by Gaara was a different matter. In a village filled with many great towers, the Kazekage's one topped even those, with a much more elaborate design in addition surmounting all the others in size. At the lowest level, by far the largest one, much of the floor was taken up by a rather gigantic meeting room, which, after Temari's eager explanations, was used by the Suna councilmen, who were incidentally only council_men._

At a far side of the room, now not occupied, Temari gestured towards four great statues at a far edge of the room, all of them reaching the high roof. Naruto could guess that they were the previous Kages of Sunagakure before Temari continued her "tour", despite Gaara not being among them. He presumed that Gaara hadn't been a Kage long enough, seeing as Tsunade for example didn't get her head carved into the mountainside the very day she was elected.

Despite the statues featuring the entire bodies of the Kages, their heads were far smaller than their Konoha counterparts, seeing as this was inside a building, if a very large one. Naruto had always had the belief that Konoha was somehow more mild than most of the other warmongering ninja villages, with the "will of fire" and all, but in terms of statues, Konoha and Suna were pretty equal, atleast when it came to grimness, despite the Kazekage position being rumoured to be cursed.

When he looked closer at the statues, he recognized one, the fourth and last one before Gaara, as similar to Gaara and Kankurou. He was bigger built and taller than Gaara, and had a far more heavyset face than both of his sons, but was slightly shorter than Kankurou, although the matter of Kankurou's size was a mystery, seeing as he in addition to wearing a large outfit also had much of his body covered in a layer of sand, granted not as thick or powerful as Gaara's though, and it was impossible to see the difference between Kankurou and a puppet disguised as him by ninjutsu.

He had read an encyclopaedia on famous ninja while abroad with Jiraiya, which also featured every great Kage. From what the tome said, despite being by far the weakest of all the Kazekages so far, Gaara's father, the Fourth Kazekage, had powers in sand ninjutsu far above the average, and although he had less raw power than his Demon Host son, he had much experience, and hailed from a strong clan in Suna, one of the clans specialising in sand manipulation.

Naruto remembered with anger that his reign had marred Suna, and changed it to quite a harsh place, although the Daimyo of the Land of Wind and the Third Kazekage, who studied the Shukaku and had his legendary powers derived from it, had part of it. He was the one who had ordered the Shukaku to be sealed into his own son, which also killed the mother.

If Naruto remembered correctly, he had forcibly married different women, one for each of his children, which made the "Sand Siblings" half-siblings. Temari was apparently the result of his union with a woman from Suna's greatest wind specialist clan, Kankurou from a woman descended from a side branch of a legendary puppet clan, the very one which not all that long ago invented battle puppetry, and finally Gaara from a woman who apparently was his strongest opponent in the Kazekage election, and one of the more promising ninja in Suna at the time.

Although Gaara had suffered even more than Naruto, especially later in his life, the Sand Siblings' horrible father had hardly given his other two children an easy upbringing. Their respective mothers' respective families had hardly given them anything, as they hated the Fourth Kazekage for forcing marriage upon their daughters, and then throwing them aside. Beyond that Gaara had suffered hardships similar to Naruto's own, due to him being another Demon host, Naruto knew little of the finer details of Gaara's life. He hoped he would learn more this time around.

When the trio, now deprived of the ANBU and the councilman, the latter only having exchanged some short words to Temari and introduced himself to Naruto, approached the very room Gaara at the moment worked in, they had walked long stairs over several floors, none as large as the first one. The Kazekage's office was at the highest floor with the exception of the roofless top, a point where one could see all off the grand village. This floor was the second largest after the first level, and from what Naruto could see it was mostly made out of one large room in the middle, circled by a round corridor, and with attached metal stairs outside, leading up to the top, it reminded a little of Konoha's Hokage tower. Finally they stopped before a large door, perhaps gate was a more fitting word for it, made out of some kind of magnificent wood. This was hardly Naruto's point of expertise, but he made the assumption that something of this nature would cost a alarming amount out in the desert.

Though he used some considerable force, it seemed Kankurou atleast had the etiquette to knock before entering his Kage's office, something Naruto in the past rarely had done, mostly so after Tsunade took over, even with the Kage in question being Kankurou's brother. The impressive woodwork that was the door apparently did not block sound as well as one would think, as the reply was easily heard, though it was said in a rather quiet voice. "Come in." Although the voice Naruto heard was somewhat deep, he instantly recognized it as Gaara's. Recalling, he surmised that the quietness might more be related to the monotone, neutral, tired tone Gaara used, rather than the actual level of volume.

When he followed Temari and Kankurou into the room, he was almost blinded by light hitting him, obscuring much of the room. It seemed natural for a room with no windows to need some strong light, but the placement of the lights made Naruto remember a small tactic he had heard of in connection with police forces. Apparently, directing strong light towards someone, most logically a suspect in some case, would, in addition to causing mild irritation and discomfort, also obscure and therefore mystify the inquiring persona, causing unconscious uncertainty and doubt for the target. While this seemed in place for any authority questioning someone, it did not fit the redeemed Gaara's personality, perhaps it had been placed in such a manner by a previous Kazekage, most likely the Fourth.

When the room slowly came into focus, it became clear that it was far more impersonal than the one Tsunade and her predecessors in Konoha used. Whereas the Hokage's office was often a mess of the personal items of the Hokages, some even left behind by the First and Second, the Kazekage's had some light, circular walls with a perfect geometry, which seemed oddly simplistic and sterile. Naruto saw plenty weapons on the walls, many of them ornamental, but they were arranged with a clear design. There were also a large amount of books in many shelves, enough to call it a small library, but they seemed to have seen little use, although they were not directly dusty as the ones in Konoha.

Becoming clear last was the other end of the room, where most of the space was taken by a massive desk, made from a similar kind of wood as the impressive door. And behind that desk sat Gaara. He was a lot taller than befpre, if not unusually so like Naruto now, and did not wear a traditional Kage costume, much like Tsunade. Since he had by now stood up from his chair, Naruto could see that he was wearing some very practical looking outfit composed by patches and parts made from leather and silk in brown, white and red. Even his infamous gourd, the one containing refined sand with a strong stench of blood, sand which he had for reasons unknown not replaced even after his redemption, was changed, as it now stood on the floor before the desk by itself, it's bottom now flattened.

What was however most unfamiliar was the smile plastered on Gaara's face. Even with the surprisingly sincere-looking smile, he still gave of a rather uncomfortable aura, despite his own calm, and despite Naruto counting Gaara's as an important friend. Naruto supposed it was hereditary, seeing as Gaara's father had quite the dreadful appearance, and his brother hardly inspired soothing either. One issue Naruto often had with Gaara was having a hard time finding words, or the correct action to take. Gaara hardly communicated very well, again even after his redemption, and once again, Naruto was at a loss for words, or actions.

Luckily Gaara solved this one. Naruto guessed that his path to Kazekage had taught him some people skills. It would've been very odd if Gaara merely stood a few feet away from him, staring at him in silence waiting for him to initiate some reunion. The young Kazekage stretched out his hand towards Naruto, and Naruto luckily managed to react before any discomfort seeped into the room. "It's good to see you again Naruto-kun. Welcome to Sunagakure, it is good you came, for we have much to talk about." Gaara's tone was as flat as usual. "Thank you Gaara. It's good to be here." Strangely, despite his change, Naruto felt much relief when Gaara turned towards his sister. "And it's good to see you too, Temari-nee. Your report can wait a little, unless it is urgent. Now tell me, why didn't you send a message before your arrival? You both have summons, no?"

Naruto was surprised to see Gaara refer to his sister in that manner, much like how Kankurou had, but he supposed they were a more close knit family now. However he was even further surprised when Temari bowed before Gaara in apology. Although neither Temari nor Kankurou had exercised much control over their bloodthirsty little brother of past, and had in fact not been the most agreeable persons themselves, even though Temari even then had seemed somewhat a pacifist, she had taken pleasure in humiliating Tenten in the Chuunin Exams, seeing the youngest sibling a family head was very slightly perturbing.

"I am very sorry for not having the foresight, Kazekage-sama." Temari seemed very solemn. He had his uneasy erased however, when Gaara smiled on her. "I've told you not to be so formal when we're in private, have I not?"

"So, your main purpose here is to get some training in kenjutsu, by Baki's hands, due to that object on your back?" Gaara nodded towards the sword, Hurricane, on Naruto's back, with much perception, looking at what little Naruto had told him of his business beyond asking for Baki. Gaara had summoned forth sand, not from his gourd, as the office, though it had seemed fairly sterile, apparently had sand in many cracks and hidden spots, and made three chairs for his siblings and his guest.

"Yes indeed. Konoha is without any available teachers when it comes to swordplay at the moment. But I have not come here to steal from you, be assured that my intrusion won't be long. Alas, I barely stayed for a day in Konoha since my return not long ago, and I haven't had any time to see most my old friends back there." Naruto awaited Gaara's reaction. "Please don't talk like that, you are most welcome. As you may have guessed however, I can't guarantee that Baki or anyone with similar talents will teach you, even if I am Kazekage, I can't force someone to teach something that may be considered a clan secret or such, to anyone. Could I hear about your journey? I hear you were taken student by a Sannin."

Naruto replied with a grin. "I guess time permits, but only if you would tell me of your exploits in return, especially how you became the Kage here so quickly." Gaara gave a sign of approval, something of a nod. "As I think you know, even before my nearly three year journey, I have known Jiraiya, the Toad Sage of the Sannin, and trained under him. Another reason I came here was also to warn you about the organization calling themselves Akatsuki whom you've undoubtedly heard rumours of, which I will do now. The Akatsuki is an organization of a few key members, we, that is; I and Jiraiya, think they are less than a dozen in the inner circle."

Naruto continued, hoping that Gaara would take this gravely. "Their final and main purpose is unknown, but we know that they wish to capture every Tailed Beast, or their Host, and have captured about half the Tailed Beasts already. This of course says a lot about their strength, seeing as the Demon Hosts are often amongst the strongest ninja around, even those without much training, and we estimate them to be atleast as powerful as an average ninja of Kage rank."

At the news, Temari, and especially Kankurou, seemed rather surprised and frightened, but Gaara still had the same impression, something of a half smile and his old visage. "Even with this, they still work in pairs, and we know that a few strong Demon Hosts have evaded capture to this day. We think that there are perhaps two or three Hosts who are strong enough to repel them, and that there are two of us, that is, you and I, who have not yet been captured or resisted them. Of course, this means that you and I need to be very careful, these are absolutely not to be underestimated as we know little of them.

We know a little of some of their members. Orochimaru, the betrayer of Konoha who also deceived your Sunagakure not many years ago, and a Sannin, is believed to be a former member, and one of the most dangerous ninja in existence. We know for a fact that Itachi Uchiha, one of the greatest ninja hailing from Konoha, and the destroyer of his own powerful clan is a member, and that a former Mist ninja, one of first amongst the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, Hoshigaki Kisame, is also amongst them. Jiraiya-sensei and I also met one of the fabled Jashinists believed to be extinct, working for the Akatsuki, though we don't know much about him or his partner."

At that point Gaara interrupted. "That sounds fearful, however, I have never heard of a Jashinist, could you tell me more?" Naruto remembered the Jashinist with fear, the strange ninja had seemed like something out of the world. His mere stare didn't paralyse people, like the snake stare of Orochimaru, who was much like evil incarnate, what with his experimentation on life itself, and he did not give out an air of superiority and arrogance like Itachi, it was more what happened in the battle itself. The mad way he howled in actual _pleasure_ when he drove a spike into his on abdomen, which at the time was connected to Naruto's, had been more shocking than any of the other grim foes Naruto had faced. Answering with a low tone, he replied.

"From what Jiraiya-sensei has told me, and he knows little himself, the Janshinists are a small cult, or a religion, of people who see death and strife itself as the point of life itself. Some have theorized that they derive their unusual power from some kind of evil deity, but we don't know much for sure. All of the three Sannin and many Konoha ninja fought against a Jashinist in a Ninja War, a high priestess they believe, but they could not even scratch her. Only the Sannin survived to tell the tale.

From what little Jiraiya-sensei has told me of the incident, her power was quite different from the one we fought and could not defeat, she was probably of a higher rank, atleast looking at his strange babble. The one in the Akatsuki and in question, was seemingly immortal, not even several successful Rasengans could harm him, and he can connect his own body to someone else's and harm his own body to damage theirs, and he displayed much proficiency in blood manipulation,much like water ninjutsu, in fact he carried a satchel of blood, kind of like your gourd, Gaara." At that comment they all stared at the gourd, a certain few undoubtedly thinking of the blood that the sand was infused in.

"Anyway, to summary, almost all of these ninja are missing from their villages, and they are all considered S-class criminals, and they are bent on capturing and probably killing you and I." Naruto turned towards Gaara at that. "That's valuable information, thank you Naruto-kun. I shall divulge this information to the council as soon as possible. But would you continue your tale?"

"Very well. One of the reasons Jiraiya-sensei and I left my village was to keep the Akatsuki from attacking, and to gain more information about them, in addition to strengthening my personal ability, so that I stand a chance against them. We set out now roughly thirty months ago, and travelled through many lands, if not the Land of Wind. Beyond generally increasing my abilities,we focused much on that relating to the Nine Tails chakra, how to control it and how to use it properly."

By now, Temari and Kankurou had left them, being a Jounin was not without responsibilities, despite what people like Kakashi would make one think. "Gaara, as you may know, we two have very different sealing for our respective prisoners, the tanuki and the fox. You had the One Tails sealed into you before birth, and with the intention of making you the ultimate weapon, while I had the Demon Fox sealed in me not days after my birth, and the Fourth Hokage intended to seal it away as deep and for as long as possible.

One of the things Jiraiya-sensei did to me while we trained, was to spend more time adjusting the seal and synchronising me with the Nine Tails more, Jiraiya-sensei considered this necessary as we now know of the Akatsuki. As you can probably guess, this did a lot for my chakra control and stability, and I can now much more directly use the Fox's powers, if far more clumsily than you, seeing as you have more experience in that area."

Gaara nodded and answered, if he had any eagerness, Naruto could not detect it. "It is true that I wondered about your strength, while you were at times amazing, you never had something like my sand manipulation." He recalled clearly that Naruto had been quite pathetic, even considering the standards of the average ninja, when they had first met, and that only in extreme situations had he proved himself better than the average ninja. The fact that only he had an unusual power that he could use, atleast usually, while they had demons of equal power sealed in them had been rather puzzling at first. The prospect of a serious Naruto was promising.

"While we had some encounters with some rather fiendish ninja, we generally had a rather peaceful time with the exception of training. One of the more important encounters was with Sasuke Uchiha and Orochimaru. As you remember, he betrayed the village in favour of that evil man, and has become a real threat to the village. The fact that he himself wields a sword with much proficiency these days, is one of the main reasons why I have come here for training." As before, Naruto gestured towards the sword, Hurricane, on his back, the weapon long obscured by black cloth.

Gaara was intrigued. "So, could you tell me some details about more of the ninja you encountered, and what exactly you did?" Naruto was somewhat hesitant. Retelling some battle would be rather hard without sounding as immature as he had been earlier, and there were some things he would not have been able to confide in even to Sasuke. Perhaps someone less serious, a guy, perhaps Kiba, would be better a target. Being a serious ninja in the company of more serious ninja sure wasn't easy.

"Well I meet a puppeteer, one whom Jiraiya-sensei recognized as an missing Jounin from Kumogakure. After all, puppeteers aren't very common outside of Suna. I'm not sure of his true strength, but he used three puppets compared to Kankurou-san's two, although they seemed far more flimsy and basic. Two of them were simply using basic weapons, and seemingly didn't have the many hidden functions that Kankurou-san's have."

Gaara felt the need to interrupt. "Actually Kankuro-niisan has increased his number of puppets, and three puppets is rather standard for a fully educated puppeteer, although I imagine most other villages has a lot less knowledge on the field than my own has."

Naruto smiled in relief, he supposed Suna had higher standards when it came to their own specialists than the other villages, and that was good seeing as they would need strong ninja for the coming trouble of the Akatsuki. "Good, but anyway I managed to defeat him alone with some effort, and he is no longer amongst us. Reading about the experiments he did on commoners however, that is only just."

Naruto changed his tone into one of light inquisition, a small smile on his lips in anticipation. "Now, your turn. I didn't hear any plans of becoming Kazekage by you before I left, so what have you been doing?" Gaara was slightly disappointed that Naruto cut his tale so short and rapport-like, but perhaps that would have to wait for times that required less haste.

"After the Chuunin Exams years past, when you defeated me, I more or less saw the error of my ways, and found that shiver of hope that I had lost long ago. It was surprisingly easy to patch things up with my siblings, although it took some time before they could really trust me. Despite this, my mind was still in turmoil. The reasons for my previous actions were not solely because of the ostracism by most villagers. My uncle, the only person who seemingly cared for me, he.. he tried to kill me at one time, and told me that my mother renounced me."

Gaara was now visibly shaken up, if only slightly. Naruto finally understood why Gaara had become what he once was with greater ease than Naruto, while Naruto had suffered much of the same, he had not lost someone close to him before gaining friends, nor had he felt the sickening sting of betrayal. After all, the villagers had from the very start hated Naruto, and shown almost no kindness at all. "This scarred me even after I regained some trust in the village and mended my relationship with my siblings." Naruto took this as an opportunity to give some feedback. Their conversations had seemed a little one-sided.

"I see, now I understand why you fell sooner than I would have, or so to speak, it was because you had far more incitement than I." Naruto said, speaking his mind. "You speak of this as though it was something of the past, I take it you have somehow gotten over it?" Gaara smiled a little as he replied. "Let's take a walk, shall we? The day is still young, but I know a road we can take where we can still speak in private. I am fairly certain that Baki-san is at the training grounds almost the other side of the village. Aside from his duties as a Jounin and a council member, he spends much of his time instructing the younger students in weapon jutsu, not far from our brand-new ninja academy."

"Ah that's right, you guys here in Suna didn't use an academy before just recently?" Naruto enquired, intrigued. It was hard to imagine being a ninja without the training from the academy, as useless as Naruto had thought much of it. "That is correct. Most ninja villages don't use that training model, and we haven't until about two years ago. Training was first left to the clan or family of the ninja in question, and then most training was done by the student himself or with the help of a Jounin team leader." Gaara answered his question as he arose from his desk. He threw the gourd over his shoulder with apparent ease in preparation of their walk. He didn't seem to leave anywhere without it.

"To answer your previous question, something like that isn't something you can ever "get over." I do however now know that it was not the truth. I did some research on my family, and found out quite a lot. My uncle, who was the only one who had shown me any kindness at that point, tried to assassinate me, but it was not out of his own will. He did not willingly act on the orders of my father either, he was controlled by a rather unique jutsu, one that has for long been considered a kinjutsu by virtually all since the formation of the ninja villages. It is a technique that allows one to completely control another living human, and is very rarely used by anyone but powerful missing ninja. Have you heard of it?"

Naruto nodded as he replied. Missing ninja were practically always Jounin or higher ranked, as weaker ninja easily got captured or killed, often by the village they left. "A missing ninja from my village, one very closely affiliated with the fabled Sannin Orochimaru in fact was famed for his use of that technique, and subsequently soon renounced from the village for it. In fact, if memory serves, it was first invented by a clan from Konoha, the Yamanaka clan, although this was from a time when the clan was considerably darker and more powerful."

"You're very much correct. I took some time to find out more about it after finding out about my father's less known deeds, and it was the brother of a Yamanaka clan head who invented it. One truly sees the difference between today's stagnation and the heights ninja climbed to in the past in comparing that Yamanaka girl from the Chuunin Exams, Inoue or something like that, with her ancestors. Most of the major clans in those old bloody days frequently had several members at a Kage level or even higher." Naruto couldn't agree more, he had often mused on the same in the last years. "There truly is a reason why so many ninja from those times are referred to as "legendary", while it is only given to few today." Naruto answered him, while making a hand gesture Gaara decided was a sign for him to continue his tale.

"When I found out that my mother and uncle did not hate me, everything cleared up for me. Prior to this I still reluctantly sought the approval and forgiveness of Suna, but this revelation motivated me to truly start anew. Although I was treated rather special as you can imagine, I was but a Genin in our previous meetings. I believe, from both own conjecture and scarce evidence, that my mother willingly married the man she despised because she hoped to gain more influence in the village. The sealing of the Demon Tanuki and her subsequent death was far from her plans, but she did not die with hate for anyone but her husband, my father. Ironically, my mother was quite the militant woman, at an public level she ran many of the same politics as my father, although she managed to separate her family from her politics. After only a few months after I discovered the truth, I became Chuunin and then Jounin weeks later. Many members of the council, Baki-san amongst them, started seeing me as more than an unstable, malevolent weapon, and my rapid ascension in the village, with a record-setting speed in fact, changed many of the villagers opinion of me, especially the younger, or the more liberal."

They had now walked for several minutes, although interesting conversation made it seem like mere instants to Naruto. They were now on a thin, high road on the very edge of the canyon, overlooking much of the village. "I suppose you're right about few people taking this path Gaara-san, but surely it was built for a more specialised purpose, no? I can scarcely imagine the average, acrophobic villager using this road for a walk of leisure." Naruto said, only half-serious. "You're right, it was made for ninjas and messengers in more urgent times, as running through the alleys or the market crowds isn't the most efficient way of movement here in Suna." Gaara had pride in his eyes as he told of the more subtle designs in his own village.

Without any encouragement from Naruto he continued his unusual story. "Of course, becoming a Kage is far more complicated than that. Still, the most important factors in my election was that there were virtually no other candidates, the fact that we had been without a Kazekage for too long, and the fact that I am the son of both the previous Kazekage and his main rival. Still, many see me unfit for the position, and they have rightful arguments. Sunagakure is still in a rather weak position, we lost much in the Orochimaru affair, and despite being a talented Demon Host, I lack enormous amounts of experience."

It seemed Gaara did not lack modesty, despite his words hardly being exaggerations. "I guess I, the village idiot in a time where there is actual conflict regarding the Hokage position stand little chance then?" Naruto smiled in faux bitterness. However Gaara replied with strong sincerity. "While certainly not the most admirable ninja in many situations, I believe that you, Naruto-kun, have changed. Show your more mature self to the village, and I'm sure you will find more acknowledgement. I did, but I still hope Konoha will have others to depend on for many years, as I wish Sunagakure should have."

"Still, those news of Suna's state are troubling, especially at the onset of the Akatsuki's plans." Naruto made his dim reply, his fears now confirmed. In addition to many Jounin and other experienced ninja receiving their bane, Suna and Konoha had also lost experienced Kage's in the war with Orochimary, and despite both Kage's being amongst the weakest of Kages in the village's respective histories (Sarutobi had been a ninja of talent and much experience, but he was not like the legendary Senju founders, nor the talented Fourth without equal), the loss of stability was great. With two Hosts divided amongst them, Naruto feared that Suna and Konoha would take the brunt of damage the Akatsuki would cause.

The prospect of several missing ninja of extraordinary talent and experience, along with the fact that both Konoha and Suna were without many of their cornerstones; Orochimaru was no longer an ally, the entire Uchiha clan was lost and many elders from both villages were dead or long weakened. Much of the duties would now fall to the younger generations, be it the more known of Konoha's eccentric Jounin or Naruto's own peers.

The pair came to a halt when the path split into two directions, one the natural continuation of the road and the other a lesser road leading further down into the village, down from the path that was much like a shelf upon the dale's side. "If we follow this road down here, we won't be far from a training ground Baki-san frequents." Gaara guided Naruto downwards. After passing a lone tower, a distance away from the bazaar like area that covered much of the village, they came to a far shorter building of sandy stone. Suddenly Naruto realised why the architecture in Suna was so different from most of the other places he had visited, or Konoha for that matter. The typical, older, tree building-types that were once universal in virtually all the ninja realms were impractical for a desert village, while certain areas of the desert had a respectable amount of wood, they were not of the kind, or quality, that were more common in the actual forests of the Land of Fire or the Land of Grass, or even in the swamp-like landscapes more common in the Land of Rain or in the Land of Water, where islands were plenty.

After passing the short building, one which Naruto presumed to be some sort of new training facility, perhaps erected in haste by the rapid-working ninja of Suna, perhaps those with a specialisation in masonry and sand and stone manipulation, they entered a large, flat area with only a few, thick walls. The area, littered with targets and training dummies, was clearly a training area. Approximately two adults, one female and one male, both with ninja vests and one with a Suna councilman's cowl, oversaw a dozen or so students, carrying a variety of weapons, all of them younger than Naruto or their young Kazekage.

"Woh, this is a nice training ground, Gaara-san. Wish we had something like this in Konoha." Looking at him slightly puzzled, Gaara made a quick reply. "You don't?" Naruto replied shrugging. "Sure if you're willing to pay getting a dummy ain't a problem, and the academy's got plenty, and many households have training tools, but the public training grounds are all natural, with only nature to help your training." Without handing out free weapons and such to their ninja, it seemed the budgets of the Konoha council was used in a less belligerent way. An idea very much foreign to the more militant Sunagakure.

When the people at the field noticed the approaching pair, the adults exchanged a few words and the woman led the trainees away. Even from a small distance, Naruto could see that the practitioners, especially the youngest, stared in awe and fear at Gaara and even his guest, as they were reluctantly dragged away by the older woman. One in particular caught Naruto eyes, and when he had turned his gaze away from Baki and Gaara, he stared deep into the eyes of the awestruck boy. When he had his attention, he activated his Demon Fox eyes for but a few moments, which turned his eyes blood red and his pupils into those of a carnivorous beast. He had learned to control such things far more while he was training with Jiraiya, and his eyes in that state, like those of the greatest of predators, had a similar effect as those of Orochimaru, if only to a lesser extent. The young boy's face froze up in fear, and had he still his voice, he would have surely screamed.

Even though it was merely a small jest, and it seemed none but the boy in question had noticed, Naruto cursed at himself for submitting to such a simple impulse. He had done it almost without making a concious choice, it was almost natural. Naruto had spent many a night wondering whether how many of his characteristics were due to his tenant, the Nine Tailed Demon Fox. Both his effortless ease at transforming into a woman, contrary to his past difficulty with transformations, and his penchant for light mischief corresponded with the features commonly given to the magical foxes of legend. Contrary to his concerns, his father had also been known as quite the jokester, which was very far from his clan was known for.

Still, the prank was entirely unseemly in this situation, to have a fair shot at convincing Baki to teach him the basics of kenjutsu, an art not truly common for ninja in later times, he would have to act with utmost civility, humility and reverence. Before anyone could say anything, Baki bowed deep. "Kazekage-sama! How can I be of service?" Despite having taught Gaara for several years, and the fact that Gaara was decades his junior, Baki still stood at attention in an almost military pose. "There's no need to be so formal, Baki-sensei. I have here a friend in need of your expertise." Gaara gestured towards Naruto, who gave a short bow and stretched out his arm for a handshake.

There was a short, tense moment before Baki took it. "Naruto Uzumaki of Konoha is my name, you might remember me from the Chuunin exams about three years ago?" Baki again made no action for several moments, despite no change in his facial features Naruto made the assumption that he was thinking hard. It seemed that most of the people he had meet before he left had trouble remembering him, probably not due to his physical growth.

"Ah, the member of the Uchiha's team?" It seemed Baki had a reasonably good memory, he had been elsewhere when Naruto fought Gaara after the exams, and Naruto himself could not remember formally introducing himself to Baki at any point. "Yes, Baki-san. I came here because one of the few ninja in Konoha, and the only Jounin, who is, or was, considered a master of kenjutsu, died in the whole affair with Orochimaru." Baki's eyes turned wide. "I came in hopes that you, the only suitable man for the job I know, could teach me the foundations of kenjutsu, for it is of importance to me, and to the Hokage. I have with me a document from the Hokage, a formal request."

Baki turned less animate, and his eyes tightened as he replied in a rather loud, condescending tone. "Preposterous! Regardless of the Hokage's involvement and our alliance, I have no reason to teach you. Let me tell you; I would take great care in teaching even a ninja from my own village my techniques, much less an outsider."

Gaara had no visible reaction to Baki's words, but said. "Baki-sensei. This man is a personal friend of mine, and we still have a debt to pay to Konoha for what our foolishness cost them, in addition to our new friendship with them. Please, reconsider." Despite Gaara having his usual tone, he had seemed slightly commanding. Naruto tried to soothe him in a more calm tone. "Now, now, I don't expect you to teach me your own ninja techniques, and I won't stay around long enough to be taught them, I believe. Merely some instructions on the most basic things when it comes to kenjutsu from a source other than a book will be more than I've hoped for, and I scarcely have time for even that, I must partake in some exams in but a week. "

Baki sighed in resignation. "I guess that is acceptable. However don't expect me to teach you any ninjutsu or specific kenjutsu techniques. The basics are rather universal anyway. Come this way." Baki led him to one of the edges of the training area, a wall-less spot with plenty of space for swirling giant weapons around oneself. "Regardless of the time period you will learn from me, for this duration, you will refer to me as sensei." Baki's voice was stern, and it seemed he still resented the idea of teaching someone from another village. Behind them Gaara called and said he had a meeting to attend, before disappearing in a whirl of sand.

"Now, what prompted your interest in kenjutsu? From what I've heard, you defeated Gaara at one point, so you should be a better fighter than the average ninja already. " Baki was a man who required an explanation before he would do something out of protocol. "I have something of a problem with another ninja, one that happens to be quite prodigious in most areas, and more relevantly, in kenjutsu. During our last fight, he used an unusually long katana as his weapon, and with his speed, I was unable to properly hit him even once." Naruto did not know how to properly describe their relationship any more. "Would this ninja by any chance be the Uchiha who deflected and joined the Legendary Ninja Orochimaru?" Baki answered with much perception. "You are right." Naruto saw no purpose in keeping it a secret, although he had wanted other villages to leave Sasuke alone before Sakura's news. Missing ninja were pretty much free game for any village with strong enough teams to take them.

"Those are fearsome news." Baki had an almost stereotypical thinking pose, his brows furrowed and his eyes unfocused. "Why?" Baki snapped back into it at Naruto's reply. "According to reports we received from Konoha shortly after Orochimaru escaped, he was using an unusual sword, and from it's descriptions, I fear it may be a nearly mythical sword, Kusanagi." Naruto did not see the connection. "If memory serves, a teacher of mine and another of the Three Legendary Ninja, Jiraiya-sensei , mentioned that Orochimaru had such a weapon, but I don't intend to fight Orochimaru alone, Baki-sensei." Baki was impressed at the mention of Jiraiya as Naruto's teacher, one could not expect every ninja to have heard of Naruto and Jiraiya's absence from Konoha.

"Although this is mere speculation, legend has it that the most special characteristic with Kusanagi is it's ability to change form. One could for example change it's shape between a easily hidden, straight bladed kodachi, a short sword, fit for assasination, to an older, larger and far more curved tachi more suited for use when on horseback." The news didn't seem all that relevant to Naruto, when last he had seen Sasuke he had used a katana without the standard handle and guard, it was a relatively normal blade covered in with a unusual, guard-less leather handle that matched the black leather scabbard. Its form was nothing a half decent smith couldn't make.

"I have never heard of ninja using ninja horses save for in ancient history." Naruto replied, somewhat anxious to get the most training out of his short time. This however seemed to be a topic that Baki was interested in. "Not surprising. Even a thousand years ago there were relatively few ninja using horses, most countries don't have a suitable terrain. There were rather few who remained even until the Ninja Villages were founded not all that long ago, and when last I heard, there is but one small, reclusive clan which still practices it, but there are probably a few individuals around who uses them even now.

However, what I am concerned over is that the last rumoured owner of Kusanagi, a ninja who lived hundreds of years ago, apparently found a rather specific use for it. While anyone can think of lengthening the blade in battle, or hide it by making it a necklace, this person made the sword into several connected swords, and then split Kusanagi into several swords which she, this owner was actually female, gave to her most loyal followers. In other words, both Orochimaru and the Uchiha boy might be possessing a nearly mythological sword!" Naruto had never seen Baki so animated before.

"I see, that is indeed a factor, but I think I may have quite the unusual sword myself. I don't think it can stand up to a near mythic weapon, but have a gander." Naruto removed the large sword on his back and sat it on the ground before them, though it was now an unidentifiable chunk covered in black cloth and with some ropes attaching it to Naruto. When he removed the cloth covering the sword, freakish in both size and shape, Baki studied it carefully with approval, and then bafflement as he noticed the elaborate whirlwind decoration of the blade. "This is!" Baki had an expression that would fit nicely with an open mouth.

"How did you get this sword?" He stared directly at Naruto, clearly demanding a definite answer. "A.. relative of mine was a fugitive from the fallen Whirlpool village, and one of rather high standing, I have been told this is one of that village's greatest heirlooms. "Naruto answered the incredulous Baki. "Amazing. I have heard of this sword, it is often compared to the swords of the first amongst the Seven Mist Ninja Swordsmen. This may be the greatest sword I have seen with my own eyes." Baki continued his examination hungrily. "It is clearly relatively modern, and designed with wind ninjutsu in mind. The broad, thin fan-like shape can augment wind chakra in a similar fashion to Temari-dono's fan while still being able to make wind cuts due to the sharp, solid edges. It is undoubtedly made of materials that can absorb chakra too, so one could probably make it sharper by adding a thin, wind edge before the actual blade..."

"Yes, I also have something I should ask regarding the sword. It hasn't been used in atleast almost two decades, do I need to find a smith for sharpening? I haven't really tried cutting anything with..."

Baki's words silenced him. "I guess you don't really learn that much at those academies; quality weapons forged by a ninja smith of half decent talent have various seals and jutsu over them. For example common kunai doesn't rust in normal conditions, and more expensive ninja weapons can cut though normal weapons without taking any damage if used by a powerful ninja. A weapon of this quality would be as sharp as the day it was finished even after half a dozen centuries."

"That's good to know. Thank you, Baki-sensei. But if it should get damaged in battle, do I need to be discriminating when searching for a smith? I know a few but.." Naruto's reply was again interrupted by Baki, something told him Baki was not the common patient teacher. "That sword was forged with the best materials imaginable, and by one of the best known ninja smiths ever to live, the same one who made most of the Mist's great swords. Though lesser swords may on occasion break in certain ninja battles, I doubt Hurricane, as it is called, would get a scratch even while clashing with Kusanagi, which is incidentally a blade far older and thought to be found in the belly of a monster."

Not a very superstitious person, even with a demon sealed in him, Naruto replied. "You truly believe so? That it came from the body of a giant snake demon?" Baki did not hesitate at all. "I truly do. With Tailed Demon Beasts in this world, one which I've seen myself, and animals beyond those trained by ninja who can talk, grow to enormous sizes and perform jutsu better than almost every ninja, who can say the origins of a legendary weapon older than a millennium was by human hands?"

After getting a few of his questions regarding care of such a sword, and Baki continuing a lecture on legendary swords, Baki suddenly announced. "Despite my earlier misgivings, I'll show you a little of my own techniques. This jutsu should be slightly familiar to you, since your mentor Kakashi-san, the Copy Ninja, uses a similar technique only with lightning rather than wind." Without using handseals, Baki's hand suddenly was the centre of strongly flowing wind, which after moments settled in a sword-like shape, the wind blowing in a way that made it seem very edged, not a small whirlwind.

"Practically since the dawn of ninja, there has been plenty of techniques similar to this one, concentrating an element, usually flame, electricity, water or wind, into some sort of shape and then using it as a weapon. The difference however are many. Some are more chakra efficient, some slightly more inherently powerful and such. The main difference between Kakashi's lightning blade and my jutsu, mine goes by many names, beyond the fact that Chidori is far more draining and also more powerful, is that I use mine over time as an immaterial sword, while Kakashi, and the Uchiha judging by his fight with Gaara, more like explodes their when they hit something with it. While the power is used over a larger area then, it is also more like an explosion and therefore less accurate and often less lethal."

Naruto did find it familiar. "Indeed, I have a decent grasp on this, see here." In one of his hands he formed a Rasengan. "I take that to be a highly concentrated mass of pure chakra spinning at a high speed.. without nature manipulation?" Baki was exceedingly sharp when it came to these things it would seem, analysing it so correctly after less than a minute. "You're incredible, Baki-sensei. This thing is called Rasengan, and it was invented less than fifty years ago, although I imagine similar if less effective versions have been made in the past. It was made by Kakashi-sensei's own teacher, and Chidori was the result of a failed attempt of strengthening the Rasengan by adding a nature element. More relevantly, it is also used in a way that results in a small explosion when it hits something, this is also what takes the most chakra, generating chakra and whirling it in such a small form is quite easy when you have control."

"One of the Fourth Hokage's inventions then? As expected, he was quite the genius. Have you however tried adding elemental chakra to it?" Baki asked. "No, not yet. I have been told of Chidori's origins, but Jiraiya-sensei decided to leave it until later during our travelling." Naruto replied. Taking a few steps forward, Baki started instructing. "Anyways, I'll tell you a little of how I fight with kenjutsu and wind ninjutsu. Usually I only fight with a single "wind sword" in a shape vaguely like a katana." Baki re-summoned his wind blade.

"But I can also summon two such weapons." At his words wind gathered in his other hand also. "Or in general shape it into whatever I want, such as this." He summoned a straighter, far larger wind blade more similar to Hurricane. "These immaterial blades are generally sharper than almost all forged ninja weapons, it depends much on the user's skill, but without even adding a wind edge, your sword is probably at least as sharp as these. Obviously I usually fight with a sword far different from yours, so it is limited what I can teach you. I usually fight with one of these blades and use more general wind ninjutsu when needed, using two swords at once requires a far more training and attention than using one."

Baki began to swing his sword around in wide circles and brought it down in cuts that were obviously not coincidental. "You should have had some training in most normal weapons according to the way Konoha teaches, no?" Naruto nodded. "I've had a few hours of training with several weapons at the Academy, but that was many years ago and not by a specialised teacher." Continuing his impressive swordplay combined with advanced footwork, Baki continued teaching. "If you examine most fighting with weapon, you only have so large an area where you can hit or slash someone..."

Baki and Naruto spent the next few hours training with his sword. As Baki had said, it was very limited what he could learn in such short time. They mostly focused on forms and how to swing a sword around most effectively. As Baki finished instructing him in footwork, the sun was already almost gone, and evening had come. "Unless you wish to spend years under an swordmaster, the only thing I can advice is to learn through experience in actual battle. In life and death situations you shouldn't rely on something you can't properly use, but during training and fights where you have the upper hand it should be all right. Since you will learn through experimentation and personal preference, your kenjutsu will probably be somewhat unorthodox, but such was the origin of almost every style of taijutsu, whether unarmed fighting or any physical fighting that uses passive chakra."

Their training was interrupted by the emergence of a heavy-breathing Suna ANBU from a whirl of sand. "Baki-dono! An intruder in the black and red robes we were warned of has been spotted above Suna, at the other side of the village! Kazekage-sama alone is currently engaging him in the air!" Baki's wind sword faded. "What!? Have all active ninja been gathered?" After doing a slight salute the ANBU answered. "I was sent here by Kankurou-dono to request your and the the rest of the ninja's aid." Baki started walking in a direction while almost shouting orders. "I will muster the remaining ninja and go to the other side. You go to the nearest tower and sound the alarm, get as many civilians to the shelters as possible."

Alarmed at the prospect of Gaara facing an Akatsuki alone so soon, Naruto shouted to Baki that he would go help, and ran at the speed only ninja can use towards the other side of the valley. His sword would be useless against an opponent such as an Akatsuki so soon, so he left it in plain sight by the arena, something most would consider lunacy, no matter the situation. His heart started beating fast, and he realized that part of him was looking forward to a good fight.


End file.
